Dodgers Diaries

There will be much hand-wringing about Tuesday night’s loss, much discussion about pride and standing up for your teammates, and losing a battle to win a war, and Don Mattingly’s missteps in his managerial debut for the Dodgers.

Lost in all that discussion is the fact that Broxton was deep into the process of blowing the game all by himself. Take away the beanball shenanigans and the picayune misinterpretation of the rules and what you have left is another failure by Broxton in a big spot.

The Dodgers may finally have hit bottom with Tuesday’s loss. George Sherrill proved he is unable to retire major league hitters in any circumstances. Broxton wilted again in a big spot. And with neither Ramon Troncoso nor Ronald Belisario around to pick up the slack, the only trusted relievers in the pen are Jeff Weaver and Hong-Chih Kuo.

The season is still long, and there’s plenty of opportunity to make up for this horrendous stretch. But the Dodgers are going to have to start beating good teams if they want to make the playoffs. Perhaps we will be able to look back at this game as the low point of the season. I’d hate to see what bottom looks like if this isn’t it.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL